Page 85 of He's The Reason Why

She’d seen that look before, a couple of times. That look unnerved her and put little butterflies in her stomach. In her experience, when guys watched a woman while she slept, they were picturing something a little heavier than she was prepared to face before she’d had coffee.

Especially when she knew this couldn’t—shouldn’t—happen again.

“It’s creepy to stare at someone while they sleep you know.” She pulled the sheets up to her chin.

“I was just admiring the view.” He would have been the picture of innocence if he hadn’t licked his lips and tried to twitch the cover away from her.

She held on tight. “Stop looking at me like that until I’ve had coffee.”

“Like what?” His gaze traveled down her body like the sheet didn’t exist.

Piper scooted away from the heat in his eyes. “I’m serious. Coffee first. Then we can talk about things.”

He looked thoughtful for half a second, then his expression cleared. “Fine. Do you still have some here, or should I send out for Starbucks?”

“Starbucks, please.” She beamed at him.

“Done.” He got up and disappeared into the closet.

She wrapped herself in the blanket and followed him in to look for a shirt to throw on. His closet was surprisingly sparse, all things considered. He had a lot of jeans and jerseys and neatly pressed plain casual shirts, but only one small section of suits and dress shirts.

She decided to skip his clothes and find her own.

There was still one question that had lingered in her mind since the night before. “So what were the stakes for that so-called deal?”

He squeezed her shoulders as he maneuvered past her torummage in a dresser for clean underwear. “That part is going to really,reallysuck. I have to let Rachel dump me in Marshall’s next rom-com.”

“Oh!” She pictured Rachel the Needy and Greedy being the girl who dumped a guy and erupted into a fit of giggles. “Oh…that’s a good one. You should see your face every time Rachel talks to you. Mount Rushmore would be jealous.”

“Like I said. It was worth it.”

A pleasant warmth spread through her under her make-shift toga, and she had a little spring in her step as she examined the rest of his closet. “You have more shoes than Della. Why does anyone need this many tennis shoes?”

“They’re comfortable.” He tugged jeans on then reached for a plain black T-shirt.

“Are you going to tell Rachelwhyyou took the part?”

He stared at her like she’d lost her mind. “Hell no.”

She considered what would happen if Rachel found out and shivered. “Probably smart. She’d rig my car to explode or something.”

“She wouldn’t be that upfront.” He pulled the shirt on, and damn he looked so good in that simple outfit that she wanted to rip it right back off. “Rachel’s a stab-you-in-the-back-from-a-dark-corner kind of girl.”

She followed him out of the closet and down the hall. “What would have happened if I’d slept with Marshall instead?”

“A lifetime of regret.” His face darkened, and she wasn’t sure if he was talking to her or himself.

She poked him in the ribs. “I’m serious. What would he have to do?”

He waited for her to go into the office first. “He’d have to do the change scene inConnednaked instead of in underwear. Where’s my phone? I need to order your Starbucks before there’s an incident. You look like you could get really cranky without it.”

“I can be downright bitchy without coffee. Don’t even go there.” She helped him hunt for the phone. It wasn’t on the desk, or the table, or the, ahem, chair.

They righted the whiteboard then shuffled through the mess looking for it.

She finally found it under his discarded pants and handed it to him. “Why is it such a big deal for Marshall to do the shot naked? I’ve seen a lot of his movies, and he’s done all kinds of love scenes. He was full frontal for almost a second inDream Big.”

“It’s not his front he minds showing. It’s his butt.” Blake picked up her bra and handed it to her then dialed. “Hey, Lee, can you make a Starbucks run?”

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